Article about changes and closings in some street railway routes, but unverified as to the above tidbit, from the local history index card.

Notes

8th Street Tunnel information: (1) began just west of Broadway and ended just above the bluff; (2) tied together the two Kansas Cities until 1907 when the Inter-City viaduct was built; (3) in 1882 Colonel D. M. Edgerton of Saint Louis, secretary and vice-president of Kansas Pacific Railroad, thought up the plan for the tunnel to relieve traffic and give access to the railroad station from the east; (4) the route decided was from the Central Avenue bridge to Riverview Avenue; (5) the "Interstate Consolidated Rapid Transit Company was formed and capitalized at $600,000; (6) in October 1886 the first train operated on the trestle; (7) in 1887-1888 the 8th Street Tunnel was built, costing $0.5 million and opened in 1888 with cable cars; (8) in the 1890s the trolleys ran; (9) the tunnel passed under Washington, Pennsylvania, Beardsley, Jefferson, and Summit Streets, a quarter of a mile long; (10) in the 1920s the tunnel was discontinued as part of the elevated structure due to being judged unsafe; (11) unsuccessfully used for growing mushrooms during the period of its closing; (12) reopened in 1928 and closed permanently in 1956.